Board
Chairman Dr Robert Burns, prior to joining the Haemostatix board, was CEO at Celldex Therapeutics Inc, a New Jersey based developer of cancer vaccines. Under his leadership, Celldex merged with NASDAQ listed AVANT Imunotherapeutics Inc, providing an attractive route forward for investors. Prior to this, Robert led technology licensing at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in New York including transactions that resulted in the formation of PIramed (UK), Lymphatix (Finland) and Recepta (Brazil). Robert served on the PIramed board before its acquisition by Roche and on the Lymphatix board before its acquisition by Ark Therapeutics. He has also held senior executive positions at Oxford Glycosciences (UK), British Biotech (UK) and Applied Biotechnology Inc. (US).
CEO Dr Ben Nichols brings many years of experience in the commercialization and licensing of technologies and products in the biopharmaceutical industry. He has held senior commercial and general management positions with Plasso Technology (BD Director), Kings (CEO) and CeNeS Drug Delivery (Commercial Director and General Manager) and earlier in his career he worked for Celltech Biologics. As Business Development Director for Plasso, a Sheffield University spin-out, he was instrumental in their successful trade sale exit to US multinational Becton Dickinson in 2007.
CTO and Co-founder Sarah Middleton brings more than 30 years’ experience in blood product and biopharmaceutical development including products such as HyateC, porcine Factor VIII, for the treatment of Haemophilia A and recombinant human albumin, as well as Synthocytes, a prototype platelet substitute. Sarah was previously Chief Scientist at Speywood Laboratories; Director of Clinical, Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs at Delta Biotechnology and Project Director at Andaris.
CSO and Co-founder Professor Alison Goodall is Professor of Thrombosis and Haemostasis at the University of Leicester and has published widely in the area of platelet biology, including platelet transfusion. Professor Goodall is past president of the British Society of Haemostasis & Thrombosis and past Editor-in-Chief of the journal Clinical Science. She is currently the Reviews Editor for the journal Platelets. In addition to her academic research, Alison has been involved in the development of a number of commercial products including recombinant human FVIII and diagnostic tests in the field of haemostasis and blood transfusion.
Non-Executive Director Dr Grahaem Brown trained as a physician and specialist in Internal Medicine. He has held senior development positions in Glaxo, Novartis, Pharmacia and UCB/Celltech, covering twenty years experience of driving global drug development from discovery through to product launch. During this time he has played a significant part in the development of some 20 new pharmaceutical products.
Non Executive Director Dr Ron James was previously Managing Director of PPL Therapeutics, a company engaged in the development of biopharmaceuticals in transgenic animals. Ron managed the growth of PPL from a VC backed company through several rounds of funding, during which time it grew to an internationally recognised, publicly quoted organisation. Prior to joining PPL, he had a “hands on” venture capital role with Prudential’s High Tech Venture Capital team with responsibility for investments in Axis Shield, British Biotech and Celltech amongst others. Dr James is qualified in accountancy and finance and was made a fellow of Birkbeck College in 2001.
Non Executive Director Dr Jonathan Gee is Investment Director at SPARK Ventures, a leading quoted early-stage venture capital company in Europe. It manages over £240 million on behalf of major institutional investors, leading UK universities, and three quoted venture capital trusts. Jonathan is responsible for 22 biotech investments, including a number of quoted companies. He was previously Investment Director at Quester and has extensive hands-on experience of early stage investment in the biopharmaceutical field.